Propapalooza week 9 (2024 week 39)

This week we're back to props. Most of these were painted a couple months ago to make space for my Lego endeavors so my memory is a little foggy on the details I'd wanted to note. I can say that they're mostly if not entirely speed paints and it probably shows.

First up we have two armor racks and a weapon rack. I stuck the weapon rack on one of my bases which was like 1000x easier to work with. I also realize that the camera angle I chose doesn't show the flagstone freehand I did on the base which is the best thing about it. The two armor racks were mostly painted with the airbrush and have a metallic zenithal because why wouldn't I?  These look pretty good on the table top but not in up-close shots.

Next up we have water hazards played by two metal fountains and two stone fountains. The metal fountains I painted in copper because that seemed right and I don't use that color super often. The stone basins are the typical grey wash/drybrush jobbie that I usually use. In both cases, one has blue water and one has red water in case I ever have to tell them apart for a puzzle or different effects or whatnot. More to the point, I find that when I do paint them in different colors, I find puzzles and whatnot to use them for. Function following form?! Seems weird IMO.

Last up we have whetstones, anvils, and chopping stumps. All three of them use a different contrast paint basecoat which you might think I chose for this shot, but really, it was the luck of the draw. The whetstone pedals are awfully spindly which really hampered my ability to drybrush them. IMO the leather tying down the anvils should have been painted in a different basecoat or otherwise differentiated in any way whatsoever but speedpaint. Similarly, the metal bands around the axe stumps should have gotten a wash or something to not look quite so shiny-new but also didn't. Ultimately, they're painted and that's what counts.

2024 finished mini counter: 273/208

A Brief Sci-Fi Interlude (2024 week 38)

And now for something completely different. Earlier this year I ran a couple sci-fi one shots as many folks were unavailable. That meant that I needed a new set of PCs and since the 3d printer was fired up, I took the opportunity to beef up my sci-fi bads roster. 

First up we have Dixie Duvall played by a Space Cowgirl from Zierzo Miniatura. If you're in need of Texas Ranger themed space marines, Zierzo's got you covered. Of the characters in this round-up this one took the most time. There are a lot of very soft details like the star on her hat and what not and her face was really difficult given the brim of her hat. I could have painted her in subassemblies but I was in a hurry and didn't do that. I'm not sold on the color scheme I chose but it worked out OK at the table. The freehand on the box is an in-universe joke.

Next up we have Derek Thorp played by Future Savior from Papsikels, rapidly becoming a go-to for sci-fi figs. Papsikels does a lot of legally-distinct homages to pop culture characters and I especially appreciate how he names them. This guy is painted to match his concept art and the player's assertion that "the only thing I know is that he has a shotgun." The character didn't end up with a shotgun, naturally. I specifically used Golden High Flow Acrylic Black on his coat since it's glossy and I could have spent a lot more time selling the leather and denim but clearly I didn't. You can see a bunch of fun printing defects on his back.

Keeping with Papsikels sculpts, we have Space Captain who was supposed to represent a character for a player who ended up not making it but was a good stand-in for one "Maple" Mac Gilleasbuig, a player who unexpectedly showed up. This guy has a surprising number of details and I super don't like all the folds on his coat. For a speed paint, they're far too hard to pick out and as a result I kind of phoned this one in. The contrast paint basecoat on his jeans is still pretty glossy (similarly on Derek's) which bothers me but not enough to hit it with a dullcoat after the fact.

The baddies were well-represented by these (many) Vanguard Droids by Hivemind Minis. This sculpt has the superpower of being a free download and pre-supported which is basically my catnip. These are better sculpts than my paint job shows, again, mostly because I was in a hurry. Turned out it didn't matter since several of us got sick the week we were supposed to play our first episode. I also glued their heads on backward the first time so had the fun of snapping them back off and re-gluing them. Also, if you see any weird graininess on them, that's less of the printing defects and more of using the trusty baking soda + cyanoacrylate trick to a) bond faster, and b) bond more strongly. One might wonder why I didn't do the same thing to texture their bases. I've wondered that, too!

Last up we have Bios Equalizer Bots from Hexy Studios and they are also a free download. Like the Vanguard Droids, these are also better sculpts than my paint job shows. All of these bots were primarily painted with the airbrush using the ever-wonderful Vallejo Metal Colors--accept no substitutes! The details were random colors that I already had on my palette which is why they're so muted (again: in a hurry). They're super back-heavy because I was extra-lazy and didn't prop up their feet like I'd planned to after deciding not to print their custom bases. Some day I'll learn.

2024 finished mini counter: 260/208

Propapalooza, week 8 (2024 week 37)

We're right around the middle of the props in this mega theme which is otherwise absolutely pumping my finished mini counter. I'm not going to feel guilty in any way about this--they needed paint! Today we have "things at an inn & tavern" and for reasons I don't fully understand, this one didn't publish despite being set so we have done so from the future!

First up we have four beds. Spoiler: there may be mimic version of these in the future. They're drybrushed, contrast-painted, and have very minimal drybrushing for highlights. The only really interesting thing going on here is the floors they're glued to. These are played by magnet stickers stuck to coffee sticks that were painted prior to glueing. There's a lousy curl on the magnet sticker that I couldn't 100% fix. 

These four are gooseneck stills. I was somewhat surprised to find that there were only two nozzles available across the four stills. I don't remember the sprues being different. Also possible I just plain missed them. The ones with the spigots were five (!) pieces! I stuck them to bases because they were slightly bigger than the magnets that I would have otherwise glued them to. And yes, they really did (do?) make stills out of copper. 

 

These two are hopefully obviously casks of some sort and I'm going to say that they're Dwarven casks since they have beardy runes on one side.These were also in far too many pieces and they were glued to the same magnet stickers as the beds. Like a lot of these, they're simply painted and look IMO, pretty good--high drama, low effort.

These guys are only arguably tavern-y things but I wasn't sure where else to put them. We've got two scroll piles, two book piles, and two taxidermied lectern beasts. Those poor, sad lectern beasts. The books are probably the ones I'm least happy with since I did almost no work on them. The yellow is pretty clearly a speed paint while the others are pretty clearly not. Overall they look painted. The lecterns sucked up the most time since they have the most details. Luckly the sculptor left some indented lettering so I didn't have to freehand that in.

 

2024 finished mini counter: 247/208

Propapalooza, week 7 (2024 week 36)

...and if you guessed more props this week then you're in luck! And in fact, we're continuing our "mining stuff" from last week.

First up we have four lanterns and three globey-pedestal-y things which aren't really mining relating at all. Three of the lanterns were painted at once and the darker one was painted all on its own which is why it looks so different. These were mainly speed paint with some washes and I note that I don't super like the golden speed paint that I used here. The lantern-y glow was basically a yellow speed paint over the white drybrush--about as low rent a solution as possible. The pedestals are different colors in case I ever need to use them in a puzzle which is likely.

 

Next up we have two big miner skulls, two pickaxes with stone piles and four boxes of dynamite. No clue what race the miner skulls are from--they're super big and lack tusks/horns/anything otherwise identifying. The dynamite boxes are also difficult for me since my fantasy world has no non-magical explosives. They're color coded for the same reasons the pedestals are.

2024 finished mini counter: 231/208

Propapalooza, week 6 (2024 week 35)

More props this week loosely gathered under "mining stuff" for better or worse and kicking off with broken half-walls. These are pretty thin and defied proper magnetization. Also, since they're so thin, they almost never stand properly. If I were smarter, I'd have glued them to actual bases and put some texture on them and all that but I clearly didn't. That doesn't mean I won't in the future, but that's a Future Me Problem (TM).

Next up we have some very dwarfy minecarts and shovels in piles of rocks. At the time of this writing, I've been revisiting Dwarf Fortress so these feel more familiar than they probably should. I painted the two shovel vignettes at different times and their very contrasting paint jobs really show that. Probably the one on the right is too dark.  Probably the minecarts could use some better highlights.

Next up we have a couple skulls with axes in them and boulder-squashy skeletons. You know, as you do. I have to think that if you have an axe and find a skull, there's a very short timer that goes off before you want to stick one into the other. None of these are quality paint jobs (obviously) but they are all painted. I rather expect the squashy skeletons to get more screen time than the axe skulls. I'll let you know.

 

Last up we have a couple wheel barrows, a tool that I desperately need in real life. This time they were painted at the same time but I wanted to vary the color so they got different contrast paint basecoats. Also note the extreme laziness on the bases which are only painted green. I couldn't be arsed to flock them. 

2024 finished mini counter: 216/208